One of the most egregious failings of the media in the US election was their chase of audience share at the expense of substantial reporting. Struggling with ever-declining advertising revenues, newspapers chased the stories that brought them the clicks.

At the heart of divided societies in both the US and Britain is a newspaper industry in precipitous decline. The true “epic fail” is of the journalism industry as a whole: that the sector has been unable to find an alternative commercial model to the one that has sustained it for so long. As print readers migrate online, few newspapers have been able to persuade them to continue contributing to the cost of producing news; and neither have they been able to convince advertisers that their online versions are as worthy of investment as their print products.

The article also referenced the shocking reduction in journalists in the U.S. As reported in The Guardian, the number of people employed in the US newspaper industry has fallen by almost 60% since the dawn of the internet age – from nearly 458,000 in 1990 to about 183,000 in 2016. This loss has been felt most seriously among regional papers which have either cut their newsrooms back to the bone or shut down altogether.

Major media platforms did fly their own journalists around the country to interview supporters at Trump rallies, but these reporters “rarely got out of the campaign bubbles. They had not lived among the many communities that voted for Trump” the way local journalists had–before their jobs went away.

Based in London, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism understands the important role investigative journalism must play in the years to come. “Now more than ever, we need strong, independent, fearless and deep reporting that holds power to account. We need journalists who have the time and the resources to properly investigate the stories that matter.”

It’s now more urgent than ever that we support the legitimate sources that provide our news. Those journalists can’t work for free.

Meanwhile, are you looking for a publicist, a publicity firm for nonprofits, a PR firm for small business, or an independent book publicist? Please contact Kathlene Carney for a free consultation to find out how our publicity services can contribute to your success–through reputable news outlets.

Energy expert Leah Parks says renewable energy technologies are poised to disrupt fossil fuels, in an insightful article published recently on TriplePundit. Here’s a short excerpt:

“Exponential growth clean-energy technologies are a most powerful not-so-secret weapon for our last, best effort in the fight against disastrous climate change. A 21st-century energy transformation is already underway. Our digital revolution is facilitating massive progress in technologies that are leading to disruption and will result in the replacement of the fossil fuel industry faster than most could imagine.

“We can jump over political resistance and climate denial despite outdated and misinformed all-of-the above federal policies. Our modern-day Edisons have done their job. We are at a tipping point where technological innovations that have been in development for many years can now provide us with all the energy we need at ever decreasing costs.”

“We need only look at the last turn of the century to see how quickly transformation can happen.

“In 1903 we took our first flight, and New York city streets were filled with buggies. By 1914 we were fighting a war in the air and the same streets teemed with cars. The engineering which first made spaceflight possible was developed in 1919. Within 38 years Sputnik was launched, and 12 years later we walked on the moon.

“We can jump over political resistance and climate denial despite outdated and misinformed all-of-the above federal policies. Our modern-day Edisons have done their job. We are at a tipping point where technological innovations that have been in development for many years can now provide us with all the energy we need at ever decreasing costs.”

“We need only look at the last turn of the century to see how quickly transformation can happen.

“In 1903 we took our first flight, and New York city streets were filled with buggies. By 1914 we were fighting a war in the air and the same streets teemed with cars. The engineering which first made spaceflight possible was developed in 1919. Within 38 years Sputnik was launched, and 12 years later we walked on the moon.

“The exact form our energy infrastructure will take by the year 2050 is not certain, but it will be cleaner, cheaper and safer than the one we inherited from the 20th century. Electric vehicles and trains, as well as heat pumps, will play a major role. Solar, wind and storage, paired with digital management and energy efficiency, are already being deployed.

“We are witnessing the end of an energy dinosaur. This is a new era of clean energy, ready to obtain its fuel free of charge from the sun and wind. Anyone looking backward will be left in the digital dust. They will be made extinct by the unrelenting disruptive force of exponential growth technologies.

“Working against entrenched interests can be frustrating and at times make optimism difficult. In moments of doubt, let’s not forget the words of Robert Hutchings Goddard, the father of space flight, ‘The dream of yesterday is the hope of todayand the reality of tomorrow.'”

PORTLAND, OR . . . A host of modern-day Edisons have invented technology that can now power all of our energy needs with electricity generated completely by renewable energy. So what’s the hold up? At this point, waiting to go electric is like saying we shouldn’t have used the personal computer in 1985 until the smartphone was invented. It is time for the utility industry, politicians, and consumers to wake up to the opportunity that this energy transformation will provide.

In All-Electric America: A Climate Solution and the Hopeful Future, authors S. David Freeman, former utility CEO, and Leah Y Parks, a journalist in the electricity industry, present a practical course of action offering the best hope for eliminating disastrous climate change. With fascinating insight, these experts evaluate the latest research, technology, and energy policies, and lay out a comprehensive plan with achievable goals and a clear timeline.

Along the way, Freeman and Parks debunk common misconceptions about renewable energy:

“It’s not practical!”
Renewable energy sources are superabundant and can be distributed in massive quantities.

“We don’t have the technology!”
Current tech can meet all our energy needs many times over with solar and wind sources alone.

Not only is renewable energy better for the environment, it’s cheaper, more sustainable, more price stable, and safer than our current sources. Our country is poised for a twenty-first century energy revolution, and All-Electric America shows us how to do it.

David Freeman is a leading authority on energy policy. He was appointed by President Jimmy Carter as head of Tennessee Valley Authority, one of the nations largest electric utilities. After 7 years at TVA, he spent 30 years as the CEO of major public utilities in Texas, California, and New York. He then served as Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles for Energy and the Environment. He is currently a senior advisor to Friends of the Earth and has authored three books on energy including, “A Time to Choose.”

Leah Y Parks is an associate editor for ElectricityPolicy.com and Electricity Daily, a journal and daily newsletter that examine current events and the state of the electricity industry for utility executives, commissioners, regulators, and other experts in the field. She is also a freelance writer, has acted as an advisor for technology reports, and has written extensively about innovations in energy storage, smart grid technology, energy infrastructure, and renewable energy.